


Amissa Ratio

by RayneReier



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Isekai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:27:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneReier/pseuds/RayneReier
Summary: “It seems… It seems like we got isekai'd.”“So we’re dead?!”“Um. Probably.”
Kudos: 1





	1. Shizuku & A Train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shizuku and Toshiaki's journey begins.

Maybe if Shizuku was more aware of her surroundings or probably a better way to phrase it, maybe if Shizuku was more aware of the consequences of her actions things would have turned out differently. This problem had plagued her throughout her life. It wasn’t like she didn’t have common sense; it was more like her sense wasn’t the common one. Combined with her seemingly completely absent ability to foresee consequences, it wasn’t a complete surprise something like this would have happened. 

It was a hot summer morning for the two students Shizuku Kajiwara and her best friend Toshiaki Nakao. They were an unusual duo but anyone who knew them would be surprised to see one without the other. Today they were waiting at their local station for the train to take them to school. 

Toshiaki was lost in thought about the brand new MMORPG video game that had come out the past weekend and she was totally sleep-deprived as a result. But she was tenacious, she would get to at least level 25 by the end of the week. A gamer in the truest sense of the word, she spent nearly all her freetime playing video games. Although she denied it for the most part she was fairly famous on several popular websites and forums for her knowledge. 

Shizuku on the other hand was intently staring at a bug that was skittering across the station floor. Unlike her best friend, Shizuku’s video game experience consisted of watching Toshiaki play. Instead, Shizuku spent her freetime taking care of her plants and animals. She loved anything living and was fascinated by it all. Knowing she would not do it herself, her parents took the liberty of setting her down the path to study horticulture at a popular university. Despite knowing her tendencies since birth her parents seemed to think college might instill some awareness into their daughter.

While the two girls were lost in their own thoughts, an argument began to build behind them. Apparently a guy was convinced another guy was trying to steal his girlfriend. It was the usual adolescent disagreement that could be solved with a mediator and some time to cool down. However the humid heat and lack of adult supervision let the fire continue to grow. Soon the verbal sparring turned physical. 

The pushing and shoving jostled the pedestrians on the platform. The horn of the arriving train sounded repeatedly; the conductor was panicking at the sign of turmoil on the platform. Shizuku was already nervous with the large number of people and the environment was only growing more hostile. She reached up to tug on Toshiaki’s sleeve when the instigator of the argument came flying in their direction. The guy fell back against Toshiaki who, lost in thought, was completely surprised by the shove from behind. She was pitched forward directly in the path of the train. Without thinking, Shizuku, desperate to help her friend dove after her.

“Say Zuku. Where do you think we are?” Toshiaki and her friend woke up in the middle of a bright green meadow staring at a light blue sky.

“I’m not sure. Is this a dream? Or was that a dream?”

“What was the last thing you remember?”

After a brief pause, Shizuku started to get emotional at the memories, “You aren’t dead! Thank goodness!” She rolled over and embraced her friend.

“I almost died?”

Sobbing Shizuku explained, “This guy shoved you in front of the train! I thought you were for sure going to die! I don’t know what I would do. Please don’t ever die!”

“There, there.” Toshiaki patted her friend’s head. “I wouldn’t die on you that easily.”  _ Yikes, I had no idea. That doesn’t explain where we are though. _ “Say. What did you do when I was pushed.”

“I tried to save you of course!”

“Um... Would you have died saving me?”

“Oh. Maybe. I didn’t think about it.” Toshiaki wasn’t surprised to hear that Shizuku had done something without fully thinking it through. She smiled though at the thought of her friend risking her life to save hers without a second thought. Of course, Toshiaki would do the same.  _ Whatever, dwelling on it won’t help. Maybe we are dead. Is this heaven? Or hell? _

She sat up and immediately recoiled. A loud notification sound rang and a screen popped up in front of her.  _ This looks like… _

“Welcome to Amissa Ratio. On behalf of the development team we thank you for live-testing our game. Please be aware that Amissa Ratio is in early alpha therefore certain game elements may not be completely polished, please report any bugs or issues using the report button below. Thank you again! Please enjoy your life!”

_ This looks like a game menu. _ Toshiaki looked at her friend lying next to her. Shizuku hadn’t reacted to the noise or the window and was staring at her friend confused.

“KiKi, what’s wrong?” She sat up as well. “Ah!... Ah! What is that?!?” She scrambled backwards. “Ah! It’s following me! Make it stop!” Shizuku was crawling across the meadow trying to escape her invisible enemy.

“Hey, hey relax.” Toshiaki dove at Shizuku and pinned her down. “Relax, look, read it. It’s just some text.”

“Where did it come from? Why is it here? How do I make it go away?” Toshiaki couldn’t help but giggle at her friend angrily swatting at the air.

“It seems. We are in a game.”  _ Wait a minute. Did we actually… Oh my god we did.  _ She started laughing uncontrollably.

Concerned, Shizuku stopped her waving, “What’s wrong?”

“It seems… It seems like we got isekai-d.” Toshiaki explained the anime genre to her uninformed friend.

“So we’re dead?!”

“Um. Probably.” 

Shizuku began to wail. “Nooo! I’m sorry! I didn’t want you to die!”

Toshiaki gave a soft smile. “Well, I can’t say for sure we are. But that is traditionally how these things go. Although from what you said it sounds like you didn’t have to die with me.”

Shizuku’s face tightened. “Oh… Sorry.”

“No! No, don’t get me wrong. I’m really glad you’re here with me. It just makes me sad that you got hurt on my behalf. I would be much more scared without you. So thank you. Thanks.” She hugged her friend.  _ What about our family and friends? I guess I probably shouldn’t bring that up right now, especially since we can’t change what happened. It’s not like I have any particular attachments. At least the person I’d miss the most came with me… I probably shouldn’t be thinking like that. _

Shizuku grinned. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone. So “holy one imbued with infinite knowledge of the world that transcends the material plane” what are we going to do? We’ve got to get to homeroom in half an hour.” Toshiaki stood up.  _ You know what. Maybe this could be a bit of fun. Ha, yeah let’s just have fun with it. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? _

“Yeah, I don’t think getting to homeroom on time should be our priority.”

“So are we skipping school today?”

“Looks like it. Let’s find some answers. Why don’t you explore that menu of yours. I’ll explore mine.” 

Shizuku turned back to her menu and started looking at it.  _ Oh. It’s like a computer screen. Do I click on stuff? _ She poked at the screen with no luck. She looked over at her friend who didn’t seem to be having any issues.

“Zuku. Try imagining a cursor. Click on the tabs at the top. Like you do on your computer.”

_ Oh. Okay. Here we go.  _ Shizuku closed her eyes and focused on imagining a cursor.  _ Okay, what now. Oh, the window is gone. _ She tried leaving her eyes open this time.  _ That wasn’t too bad. Anddddd click!  _ Her face lit up in surprise as the window changed to showcase a 3-d image of her and it listed a ton of numbers.

“Got it? What window did you go to?”

“The one with a picture of me on it!”

“That’s your stats window. If you look at the numbers that’s how powerful you are. This is a fairly common attribute list. Although it is surprisingly missing a social stat of any sort. Hm. Maybe in this world it’s just your natural ability? Hey, what are your numbers?”

“I’ve got a 1 in STR…”

“Strength. The next are agility, vitality I presume, and intelligence. Oh, there is a help button at the bottom. Try clicking on it then on something else.”

“Oh! It brought a new window!”

“Yeah, it should have more information about the thing you clicked on.”

“I have only a 2 in agility and 1 in vitality. I have a 5 in intelligence though!”

“Ha. I guess our stats are not directly derived from our original selves.”

Shizuku pouted. “Hey, I’m smart!”

“I mean… Actually yeah. Sorry I was thinking of…”  _ Yikes there is no nice way to phrase ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call you an idiot just an airhead.’ _ ” You always do well in school so I guess it does take those stats.”

“It’s sad my lack of strength isn’t changing.” She frowned. After a few moments of thought she asked another question. “What is HP, EP, and MP?”

“Remember you can…”

“I know, but I understand it better when you explain it to me!” Shizuku looked up to Toshiaki with big eyes.

Toshiaki rolled her eyes, “Okay so HP is Health Points. I don’t know how getting hurt works in this world but I’m not excited to test it. Based on the explanation it sounds like it’s just a way to measure our physical condition even though we may be in less or more pain. EP is an uncommon one but it’s Energy Points.” She took off sprinting in a direction.

“Huh? Wait for me!”

“Take a look at your energy bar.”

“Oh, it’s missing some but it’s rising back.”

“Yeah. It’s similar to real world stamina. It’s going to be weird actually feeling tired when my EP is low. The final one is Mana Points. It’s a resource used for spell casting, like ink for a pen. Speaking of spells, what class are you?”  _ I’ve got a weird one. _

“Oh. Huh?!? It says I’m a… Dominator?!?”  _ That sounds really evil! _

“I’ve never heard of that before. Maybe It’s like a Summoner?”

“I clicked on the help thingy and it says that Dominator is a subcategory of Summoner that specializes… In enslaving creatures to do my bidding?!? I don’t want to do that!” Back home, Shizuku kept a dozen pets and adorned every single one of them. She loved all creatures so the idea of enslaving them was revolting to say the least.

“Huh. Usually Summoners reach into a specialized pool of creatures to create minions, but if you can create minions out of existing creatures I imagine that could be really strong. Broken even if you can dominate a boss level creature. Ha, imagine getting an elder dragon on our side! We’d be unstoppable.”

“I don’t want to do that though!”

_ With her personality I wouldn’t feel that bad for any animals in her care. _ “Hey. Just think about it like taking care of your pets! But now they can fight for you.”

“I don’t want them to die!”

_ Hm. Maybe I just let this slide for now. Since we were assigned classes from the start it’s unlikely we can change them. _

“What class are you?”

“Oh. It’s a class I’ve never seen before. It’s… unique.”

“That’s it? I’ll let it slide for now but promise me you’ll explain later.” Shizuku pouted.

“Sure, I promise. It does seem that we are both combat classes though. That’s unfortunate, we will probably have to contend with danger regularly. We probably should find a city to learn more and stay safe from monsters or bandits, we don’t know how dangerous this world is. Let’s walk and talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kajiwara Shizuku: Dominator 0 (HP: 50/50 XP: 0/97)  
> Str 1 / Agl 2 / Vit 1 / Int 5 / EP 100^1.0 / MP 20^0.5  
>   
> Nakao Toshiaki: ??? 0 (HP: 50/50 XP: 0/97)  
> Str 1 / Agl 4 / Vit 2 / Int 3 / EP 100^1.0 / MP 20^0.5


	2. Toshiaki & A Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shizuku and Toshiaki encounter a wolf.

“Your class sounds like Pokemon. It’ll be fun though! You’ll get to travel the world collecting creatures to fight for you and you don’t even have to actually combat yourself! It sounds like the perfect class for you.”  _ Even though after hearing some of the details it sounds super weak. She has no built in proficiencies for weapons or armor. We don’t have any previous experience to use and I think it would take a small miracle to teach her. Which leaves her creatures. First off, the creature can’t be hostile to begin with, so that nixs a lot of really strong monsters. There is also no easy way to recover any lost health. They will almost always be weaker than her because the difficulty is based on the difference in level and intelligence stat. And she can’t even maintain a large number of them at once because they constantly consume mana while summoned. Wow this class seems really awkward to use. I think Lifelong Companion could be useful? It allows a pet to be continuously respawned but it costs permanent HP and stats for the initial cast so it’s tradeoffs are quite significant. The 10% stat boost for the pet is nice though, I’d like to have that. I think I might be better off not considering her a combatant for the time being. Maybe she could make money moving things with large creatures? Nevermind, Shizuku would never go for that. _

“You think? Hm. If I consider it like keeping pets… Yeah! This could be fun! And if I use the Lifelong Companion ability they’ll never die! I’ll get a cat, a dog, another cat… Oh do you think there are any unique creatures in this world?”  _ I’d love to find a dragon! Or a mythological beast like a minotaur! Something fuzzy would be good too. _

“Now that you mention it, this doesn’t look like our area. Maybe we are in a completely different part of the world? But perhaps it’s easy to think of this as a different world.” 

They continued walking in no particular direction hoping to find a road. They came across a forest with a river running through it and Toshiaki suggested they follow the river to hopefully find a village. As they walked, Shizuku tried her Dominate skill on a lizard she found. It worked and she named it Patrick. She also learned how to use her ‘pet inventory’ tab and Hibernate/Awaken skill which brings out or puts away a pet. For now she left Patrick in Hibernate.

“KiKi. The sun is going down.”

Toshiaki clenched her teeth. “Yeah. I know.” It was a secret only Shizuku knew but the bold and confident Toshiaki was deathly afraid of the dark. Shizuku slipped over and grabbed her friend’s hand. As the night grew dark and dark Toshiaki slowly started to grab more of Shizuku until she was practically being carried by her.

“I’m… I’m not scared. It’s just really cold out and you’re warm.” 

Shizuku smiled in the darkness and awkwardly patted Toshiaki. “Don’t worry! Patrick will protect us!”

“Oh yeah. I’m really really reassured. We don’t have anything. Not a tent, not food, not even a weapon. What stupid game spawns us in the middle of nowhere.” She kept angrily ranting out their unfortunate situation until she ran out of steam and abandoned the venture in favor of silently trembling. Finally they managed to see a glimpse of light in a faraway clearing. There was a village.

“There! Kiki look! Light!” 

Her despondent friend looked up. “We’re saved.”  _ No! That’s a danger flag! _ She kicked her mind back into action and quickly looked around.  _ Not that I’m expecting to see much in the dark. But now is the perfect time for an enemy to come running out of the shadows… Like there. _ “Zuku, we’re in danger.” 

“Huh? What?”

Usually her mind has several layers of thought where ideas get past down from level to level until the soundest idea reaches the bottom to get put into action. Right now however, there was only one level in Toshiaki’s brain.  _ I’m scared. Help. Someone. _

Shizuku’s brain caught up to what was happening. “Okay KiKi, we’re going to run to the village. Ready?” She began dragging her dazed friend. Soon after they started running Shizuku began to feel tired. Neither of them were particularly good runners and the village was still so far away.  _ Too far. It’s too far. But we have to try. _

There was a snarl behind her and the sound of pounding footsteps. “It’s… It’s okay. We both will make it. I know it.”  _ No, it can’t end like this. _ She held Toshiaki’s hand determined not to let go and drag her all the way to the village if need be.  _ She lived alright! Stop chasing her death! You failed, it’s not fair to keep trying. _ She squeezed her eyes to stop tears from racing out.

A guttural voice in the distance shouted a response.

Out of breath, Shizuku shouted a response. “Yes! We’re here! Help!” A man appeared from the dense wood. He was holding a spear and a lantern that dimly lit a small area of the woods. Even the dim light was wonderful in pitch black. His armor and helmet suggested a village guard. His eyes went from the two exhausted girls to whatever was chasing them.

A surprised expression plastered the man’s face. He froze with fear as they ran by him. His scream echoed through the forest and the lantern shattered throwing the forest back into darkness. 

Shizuku winced at the noises.  _ Did... Did we get him killed? _

“Zuk…” Toshiaki’s voice faltered as a large shape slammed into her from behind throwing her to the ground. Her screams broke Shizuku. Every moment produced another crack in her heart. She couldn’t even see her friend in the dark but the noises provided enough description. Moments later, the screams stopped.  _ It’s over. Screw this world. And the previous one. It’s not fair. IT’s Not fAiR. IT’S NOT FAIR! WHY?  _ With a wail of hopelessness she tried to tackle the creature but with very minimal strength it didn’t even budge. She hit it with fist after fist but each strike landed softly in it’s fur.  _ No. Why’d it have to end like this. The least you could have done was kill me first! _

A sudden force launched Shizuku away. She went rolling across the ground and landed on several sharp objects. However, the physical pain was but a drop in the ocean.  _ Toshiaki. At least I’m joining you soon. _ She closed her eyes. Her hand felt something smooth and round.  _ A stick. Fine. If we’re going to die I’m going to at least stab it _ . The creature started sprinting at Shizuku who made a weak effort to raise her improvised weapon.  _ This is the least I can do. _ Right before the creature got to Shizuku it made a weird noise and went soaring over her head. Moments passed but there was no follow up attack, only a muted ding. 

She hadn’t known it but the round object was the village guard’s spear. She brought up the tip of the spear and the wolf had run face first into it. Her own strength wouldn’t have been enough, but it’s own strength sent the point straight through the beast’s skull.

_You’re supposed to kill me to stupid monster… KiKi._ Shizuku crawled over to her fallen friend. It was hard to tell with the low light but when her hands touched her body it was very warm and sticky. _I guess. I guess I’ll just lay here._ She lay her head on Toshiaki’s stomach ignoring the wetness. _I’m… I’m at least happy we were able to stay together until the very end. I’ll never leave you. Maybe we’ll be… what’s the word, reincarnated? Again. Heh. To think we can keep dying over and over again. Well, as long as I never lose you. I don’t ever want to lose you. Didn’t we talk about this earlier?_ Still laying down, Shizuku opened her eyes again and brought up her status menu. _There is it. Lifelong Companion, “Creatures with the ‘Companion’ tag will return to the owner’s pet inventory 24 hours after their death.” We talked about how my pets could die and I’d never lose them. Can I give KiKi the Companion tag? I’d have to make her a pet first. That’s disturbing. But... She meets all the criteria, I don’t see why not. There is nothing to lose that I haven’t already lost, let’s try it._ _I don’t care how hard it is._

Shizuku woke up on her stomach. She tried to roll over but stopped when her whole body complained, mostly her back.  _ Pain. Lots of pain. I feel so weak right now. Where am I? _ She looked around. The room was small but quite cozy.  _ It looks like my sister’s dorm room. _ Remembering her sister brought a rain of memories back.  _ I wonder what happened in the real world. And what happened in this one. What’s even real anymore? _ A soft knock sounded at the door. 

A middle-aged woman in an apron walked in. The words she spoke sounded strange. Shizuku couldn’t make sense of it.

Tired and confused, Shizuku made a weak attempt at a question. “What happened to my friend?” The woman cocked her head and asked a question but again Shizuku didn’t catch any of it. “My friend, what happened to her?” The woman bowed and shook her head before backing out of the room.  _ Huh? Where did she go?  _ She remembered what happened last.  _ Priorities. KiKi. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Just check. Just calmly check. _ She opened her status. The first thing she noticed was her HP.  _ 2?!? My maximum is 10? -3 strength? How do you even have… Oh. Oh my goodness.  _ She quickly switched tabs and saw it; saw her. 

Overcome with emotion she couldn’t help but dissolve into tears. Through blurred eyes she managed to activate Awaken. Luckily there was no one else in the room to see the sudden appearance of another girl.

“KiKi? KiKi! KiKi!” Shizuku wailed. Toshiaki didn’t say a word. She walked above and pulled Shizuku into a tight embrace. Shizuku didn’t even care about the pain anymore, she was so happy nothing else mattered.  _ It worked. I don’t even know how or care. If I can save her even once my life has been worth it. _

“Zuku. Thank you. I know what you did... I’m... proud of you.” Shizuku’s response was more crying. A sudden soft ding interrupted her.

“Ah! Why is my MP bar depleting? It’s almost gone!” 

Toshiaki cursed and spoke quickly. “I’m Awakened, so I’m using mana. You should have some stat points from leveling up. Put some in MP to increase the regeneration. I think you need…” Toshiaki slowly faded away into grey mist.

“KiKi! Come back!”  _ Where did she go? She didn’t die. Did she?  _ Shizuku shook her unable to accept that to be the truth.  _ She said… Points in MP? Oh! I do have 5 stat points. Um. Like this? How many should I put in? Let’s just do it all, I want KiKi to come back.  _ By the time she had finished Shizuku’s mana bar had filled back up. She Awakened Toshiaki. “KiKi! You’re back!”

Toshiaki sighed. “This is going to be annoying. Is your bar depleting anymore?”

“Nope!”

“How many points… Nevermind, you just threw them all in right?”

“Yep!”

“That’s… That’s fine. I mean you’ll need more points there eventually anyways.” 

Toshiaki began softly interrogating her friend. “How much HP are you at?”

“2. But for some reason my max is 10 now.”  _ Thank whatever god exists in this world. Whatever demon or deity saved KiKi I’ll gladly become your devout follower. I’m just so happy. So so happy. _

“Did you know you leveled up?”

“Huh? No? Why would I have leveled?”

_ You would have died if you didn’t.  _ Toshiaki sighed.  _ Not that it matters much now. _ “Ask me for permission from now on before you use Lifelong Companion.” She shushed Shizuku’s befuddlement. “It’s really important that from now on you don’t use it unless I say you can.”  _ I want to trust her, but when her life is on the line. I know her, and that’s the problem. _

“Okay. I trust you KiKi. I will ask you first. But does this mean you can’t die anymore?”

“I suppose. But let’s not go out of our way to test it. We don’t know what happens after death here but… there might not be any coming back. Let’s not risk it. I suggest we...” There was a soft knock at the door. “Quick. Hibernate me!” Shizuku stared at her for a few moments but in that time the door opened and the woman from earlier walked in followed by an older man. 

The four awkwardly stared at each other. The woman broke the silence with a shout pointing at Toshiaki’s clothing which was in tatters and dripping blood all over the floor.

Toshiaki waved her hands trying to calm the woman.  _ Language barrier! I should have seen this coming. Ugh. Shame I’ll have to do this now but I would probably have to anyways. _ Toshiaki’s class was Meta-Player. It would have been difficult to explain to Shizuku so she simply didn’t. Apparently her extensive experience with video games gave her this hidden class. There was only one class skill called  **Adaptive Talent** , it read  **Generates a Skill by calculating what the User needs most at the given moment.** _ I wanted to save this for something special; it only has 5 charges, now 4. But we won’t get anywhere if we can’t communicate in this new world. _

She activated the ability and a new skill fizzled into place called **Language Proficiency**. It read, **User can understand the basics of spoken Erdpsa.** _Okay that’s perfect but it will certainly help a lot here. It feels bad to waste a charge of_ ** _Adaptive Talent_** _but life would be hard without it._

“Hello. I am Toshiaki. Thank you.”

“KiKi! What did you say? Is this another language?”

Toshiaki laughed. “Yes. It’s a class skill. It’s fairly basic but it should work here.”

The older man smiled and extended his hand. “I am Gunther. You speak Erdpsa?” Toshiaki held up her hand with two fingers close together. “I see. How are you?” She lifted her shirt slightly to show both the two newcomers and Shizuku her lack of injuries.

She turned to her friend. “Zuku, he asked how are you.”

“Oh. I’m tired and my back hurts… But I’m too happy for it to matter much.” She hadn’t stopped grinning like a fool. Toshiaki took a look at her friend’s back and relayed Shizuku’s response the best she could. 

She managed to hold a conversation just short of normal with the older man. According to him the village guard went out to look for their missing soldier only to find Shizuku nearly dead in the forest. They brought her back and did their best to nurse her back to health over the course of yesterday.  _ Poor thing was laying in the woods for what was probably half a day.  _ Unfortunately the soldier didn’t make it but they were really glad Shizuku did.  _ It’s better to let them think he sacrificed himself to kill the beast. _

Toshiaki managed to convince them somehow that she was Shizuku’s sister who had managed to escape the attack last night and the blood on her clothes was Shizuku’s.  _ I don’t know how that was convincing but apparently it worked. I mean, they aren’t asking questions. Maybe they are just being considerate. It was a traumatic experience after all.  _

The woman offered the two a change of clothes which Toshiaki gratefully accepted.  _ We should ditch our current clothes. They stick out a lot and they are ruined regardless. _ Toshiaki chatted with them to get a bit more information. She managed to find out about a local caravan that made regular trips to the nearby large city of Ayloria. Fortunately, it was leaving the next morning.  _ I’m not excited about Zuku moving around too much this quickly but it’d serve us well to get to a big city. _

“What are you talking about?” Shizuku had stayed silent most of the time.

“Oh. I was considering heading towards a big city.”

Shizuku’s face lit up. “That sounds awesome!”

“But we’d have to leave right away in the morning. Are you up for it?”

She frowned. “I think so. It hurts but I feel much better than when I woke up. I’m now at 4 HP! It seems to slowly regenerate.”

“That’s great news! It’s awfully slow though. We’ll give it a go but let me know immediately if you need to stop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kajiwara Shizuku: Dominator I (HP: 4/10 XP: 100/210)  
> Str -3 / Agl 1 / Vit 1 / Int 5 / EP 101^1.0 / MP 25^1.0  
> [-2 MP Regen from KiKi]  
> \- Dominate (Patrick, Toshiaki)  
> \- Hibernate/Awaken
> 
> Nakao Toshiaki: Meta-Player 0 (HP: 55/55 XP: 0/97)  
> Str 1 / Agl 4 / Vit 2 / Int 3/ EP 110^1.1 / MP 22^0.6  
> [+10% to all stats from Lifelong Companion]  
> \- Adaptive Talent  
> \- Language Proficiency


	3. Toshiaki & a Mad Redling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toshiaki fights a Mad Redling.

“Thanks again.”

“It’s no problem. We couldn’t ignore someone in need. With things right now it is important to be kind.” The merchant smiled at Toshiaki. They were on the small dirt road to Ayloria. The more she talked with him, the more she realized the language skill wasn’t going to work.  _ I wonder if I should upgrade it.  _ Unlike Shizuku, Toshiaki hadn’t yet leveled up but planning ahead wasn’t a bad thing.

While she was thinking, Shizuku moved a touch closer. Toshiaki followed her friend’s gaze to a small group of soldiers boisterously laughing as they walked alongside the caravan. There were maybe 50 people at most.  _ But she is still probably uncomfortable. The language barrier isn’t helping. _ The Shizuku next to her was far removed from the one Toshiaki had woken up next to in the meadow. She glanced around warily, especially at the people wearing armor and carrying weapons.  _ Not much I can do about that now. _

Toshiaki opted to attempt to continue the conversation with the merchant “With things right now?”

The merchant gave her an odd look. “Have you not noticed or heard?”

Toshiaki cursed.  _ We have to be careful gathering information. It would draw too much attention to show ignorance in everything. I have no idea what is common knowledge here. _ “Ah. We aren’t from here.”  _ That… sounds okay? _

The confused expression only grew but he chuckled. “Trading is difficult now. The roads are dangerous. I don’t like it, but I have to do it. I hope the…” He tried a word but Toshiaki could only shake her head. “The fighters can take care of it soon.”

_ Good. That’s great information. _ “Are we in danger now?”

He bowed his head. “Yes. Mr. Zashan is here to help.” He gestured to the soldier sitting next to him. “He is a D level fighter.” It was clear he wanted to explain more but had simplified it for Toshiaki’s sake. Apparently her limited language skills included the alphabet, so at least she was able to approximate what he was trying to say.  _ It’s supposed to comfort me. But there are 3 letters prior in the alphabet so this isn’t a top tier group. The ranking sounds like something you would have in a game. _

Toshiaki turned to look at Shizuku who was staring out into the forest.  _ Should we pursue a path like them? I wouldn’t call myself risk averse. But when Shizuku is around I can’t help but feel the need to take as few risks as possible. I suppose, with our new abilities and the way this new world seems to operate, it may not be a bad idea to at least try some fighting… _

Toshiaki directed her next question at Mr. Zashan. “Are you part of a…” She hit a wall since she didn’t know the word for guild. “Part of a group? A group of fighters. A large group of fighters.”

He nodded, it seemed like he got the question. “Yes. We fight for a large organization called the Guild.”

She tried pronouncing it. “The Guild?”

“Yes. We are called…” He used the word the merchant had tried earlier. “Operatives. We are placed in a team. A,B,C,D, or E. Uh, difficulty.”

_ Operatives. A ranking system. This is like a video game. _

“You don’t know? Where are you from?”

_ This might usually be common knowledge. I don’t want to stir up trouble so I have to be careful with how I respond. Let’s play it safe. _ “We are from the forest. Talking to people is uncommon. Sorry.” He didn’t seem to fully accept that explanation, but if he had something to say he held it back.

The mood became relaxed and many of the early conversations died off in favor of comfortable silence. Around midday the atmosphere was interrupted by a shout coming from the forest. Two individuals came running out, one hefting a large axe and the other had a large cat bounding alongside. After a hushed exchange, Zashan started issuing orders to the rest of his team.

“KiKi?” Shizuku’s eyes were big and watery. She couldn’t understand their words but their actions were clear enough.

Toshiaki winced.  _ I don’t know if she is ready for danger after what happened. _

“I can... I can put you away.”  _ I’m scared but at least KiKi won’t get hurt. _

“No, I want to watch… But here, you don’t have to.” Toshiaki took a cloth bandage the lady at the inn gave them and wrapped it around Shizuku’s head, covering her eyes. “There, can you see?” She shook her head. “Good, now cover your ears and sit tight. I’ll let you know when it’s over.”  _ I kinda feel bad doing this but for now it’s probably for the best. Okay, where did Zashan go? _

Toshiaki caught sight of the man organizing his team on the side of the caravan.  _ To be honest, I’d like to help them. But I know I’m well out of my depth here. _ His lineup was pretty sensible. Zashan and three other members took the front while the girl with the cat and two weaponless members stood back. Their opponents came running out of the woods. The creatures were humanoid at best. They had arms, legs, and a head but that’s about where the similarities ended. The red skinned creatures wielded improvised weapons and attacked with reckless abandonment.

Zashan’s group fought in a very defensive style. The frontline was constantly falling back to avoid danger while the two weaponless members casted spells from glowing pendants to slow down the enemy.  _ Mages then. Magic does exist, I’ll keep that in mind then.  _ She was captivated by the sight of real life magic. Rock walls shot up from the ground and waves of water pushed back the enemy.  _ To be fair, these are pretty basic in video games. I’m really curious about the magic system in this world... _

While the group wasn’t tearing through the enemy, they were leaving no path to the caravan and whittling down their numbers. Zashan himself didn’t seem very skilled but the other members of his team covered him naturally.

Right when the creatures’ advance seemed to halt, a loud roar echoed from the forest and two much larger copies of the creatures stomped out. The ones Zashan had been fighting up until now were the size of a teenager.  _ The taller ones are probably Zuku’s height _ . But these new contenders easily stood above all the others on the battlefield. With one swipe, an Operative was sent flying back over the caravan. Luckily the woman with the great axe had managed to grab the other’s attention and drag it away from the fight before it made a mess of things. 

_ But there is no one that can deal with the remaining monster. _ Toshiaki looked down at her empty hands.  _ Well, let’s at least get in his way. _ She vaulted over the edge of the wagon and dashed off to join the fray. Most of the smaller enemies ignored her as they pressed on to the caravan.  _ How do I get his attention? _

“Hey! Hey you! Yeah you idiot! Come here!” Surprisingly the monster obediently trotted over.  _ Okay, time to go. _ The two began to play a very dangerous game of whack-a-mole between the trees. It was strong but she was faster.  _ Heh. This is kinda fun. _ However as time went on there were more and more close calls.  _ I don’t know how long I can keep this up. I really regret using  _ **_Adaptive Talent_ ** _ earlier, I’m sure it would give me something useful now.  _ Unfortunately for Toshiaki,  **Adaptive Talent** required at least a day between uses.  _ I wonder how the rest of the fight went. _

The ground shook and the earth rose up in an uneven pattern tripping both Toshiaki and the monster. She heard several shouts as Zashan’s group emerged from knocked down trees and set upon the prone enemy. It took them moments to finish it off.

“Thanks. I won’t say that was unnecessary, but you didn’t have to.” Zashan helped Toshiaki up. He was bleeding and bruised but wore a smile on his face.

Out of breath Toshiaki laughed. “Why let you have all the fun?” Even with the awkward language barrier the joke still landed. As the two walked back, she noticed two team members poking around at the monster’s corpse. “What are they?”

“We call them Redlings. The large ones are Mad Redlings.”

“Are they common?”

“Yes. They are among the most common. We can fight them. But the Mad ones are tough.”

_ I could tell. _ “What happened to the other one?”

“Bia took care of it. She is very strong.” They returned to the caravan. The other Operatives and civilians were already setting up a small camp. 

Toshiaki peaked over the side of her cart. “Zuku. It’s okay now.” She poked her friend who still had her eyes and ears covered.

“Did we win? Why are you dirty?”

“Yes we did. I got involved a little.” 

Shizuku lightly hit Toshiaki. “KiKi! You said you weren’t going to!” She looked around at the soldiers and took in their injuries. “What would you have done if you had gotten hurt? Or killed!”

Toshiaki sheepishly looked away.  _ It wasn’t that bad. I didn’t think Zuku would care to be honest.  _ “Look it’s okay now, I’m not seriously hurt. Plus I’m pretty sure that even if I had died it wouldn’t have been much of an issue.” She gave Shizuku a cheeky wink.

“No. It’s not okay. You would have left me alone for a long time! Say you’re sorry for doing dangerous stuff.” Shizuku pouted.

_ Really? Oh I suppose that was a touch insensitive. I guess.  _ “Sorry.”

“Now say you won’t do it again.”

_ I can’t really say…  _ “I won’t do it again.” It just came out of her mouth.  _ What? _

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I just kind of said that. I wasn’t planning on saying it.” 

_ What does she mean she didn’t plan on it? Then why did she?  _ Something about this bothered her so she took more effort than usual to unravel it.  _ Oh no. I understand.  _ She shivered.

“What?”

Shizuku looked away, a silent war had begun in her mind. “It’s nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kajiwara Shizuku: Dominator I (HP: 5/10 XP: 100/210)  
> Str -3 / Agl 1 / Vit 1 / Int 5 / EP 101^1.0 / MP 25^1.0  
> [-2 MP Regen from KiKi]  
> \- Dominate (Patrick, Toshiaki)  
> \- Hibernate/Awaken
> 
> Nakao Toshiaki: Meta-Player 0 (HP: 43/55 XP: 0/97)  
> Str 1 / Agl 4 / Vit 2 / Int 3/ EP 110^1.1 / MP 22^0.6  
> [+10% to all stats from Lifelong Companion]  
> \- Adaptive Talent  
> \- Language Proficiency


	4. Toshiaki & A Plan I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toshiaki starts to make a plan.

Zashan and his team set up a quick temporary camp to recuperate. 

Toshiaki sat in the caravan. _I’m surprised how many light injuries there are. Sure no one lost a limb or died, but I can’t imagine they’d survive another battle like this one. Does this mean we’ll spend the rest of the journey at risk?_ With risk on her mind she turned to face Shizuku who was sulking albeit it was hard to tell.

_I feel really bad controlling Kiki. We should break it off. But then if she dies she really dies. I suppose I also don’t know how to break it off. Okay, for now I’ll be careful! Yes. I’ll be really really careful._

“Zuku, what’s up?” Shizuku turned and opened her mouth to respond. She went over her words several times before committing to them.

“I’m worried about Leon. And Sasha. And Theodore. And…” She went on naming all of her pets from the world before.

 _Of course she’d be thinking about them._ “I’m sure your…” _Is it a good idea to bring up her parents?_ “I’m sure your parents will take care of them just as well as you would.”

“I know they’ll do their best. But they don’t know that Indigo likes to eat at 3 A.M. or that Sasha only likes to walk clockwise around the block… We need to go back.”

 _I won’t disagree with her, but the problem is…_ “How?”

 _Oh. Right._ “Well there has got to be a way, right?”

“Why has there got to be a way?”

“Um. Because…” _What if there isn’t?_ “Otherwise we would be trapped here!”

“Keep your voice down.” Toshiaki shot a glance over to Zashan’s group. Luckily they didn’t seem to be paying them any mind. _Not that they would understand what she was saying._

 _Geez, just how much are we standing out? Fortunately we got appropriate clothes quickly._ Toshiaki looked down at her new shoes. It had taken some serious convincing to get her hands on these. After getting new clothes from the lady at the inn Toshiaki had realized their shoes hadn’t been replaced. It took some explaining but she managed to convince Shizuku that ‘no, sneakers probably aren’t common in this new world’. It had been a bit of a gamble to ditch their shoes and hope the lady would give them a pair. She felt a bit guilty at exploiting their sympathy however their needs came first. 

Other than clothing, the biggest issue was Shizuku’s language. _Mine too I suppose._ Anyone would find it weird for two people to be speaking not only a completely different language, but also one they never heard of before. Toshiaki looked around at the merchants and soldiers. _Operatives._ She corrected herself. _Their looks are fairly diverse. I’m sure if you scientifically analyzed our faces it would be clear Shizuku and I don’t belong. Eh, on the surface though we fit right in. And that just leaves our knowledge._ She was surprised at how easily Zashan accepted their lack of basic knowledge. _Not everyone will be like that though. It’ll be important to find a confidential source we can trust to help educate us. Wow, look at me already planning for the long term. Speaking of long term…_

“Zuku. What’s our plan here?” Her friend blinked at her. _I mean, this isn’t a wholly unexpected reaction._ “Let me rephrase that. What do you want to do?”

Her face corrected itself back into its usual smile. “Go back home of course! This was fun and all, but it's really dangerous and we have a test on Friday.” She looked up clearly contemplating the ramifications of staying somewhere dangerous and missing a test, probably equally.

Toshiaki couldn’t help but grin. _Only you would be concerned about a test right now._ “Okay, we let’s pretend we can’t go home.”

“We can’t?”

“No no no. Let’s pretend. I’m sure there is a way.” _Ha. There’s a snowball’s chance in hell there is._

“Well given that we can’t go home… I guess I would want to help people while we are here. You said this was a game right? Are these real people then?” _Helping others is the best way to spend my time. I’m not sure whether these people are real or not but let’s give something back to the world that took us in. It saved Kiki after all._

“Um. That sounds nice.” _I could’ve guessed this but that doesn’t help me. We don’t exactly have a lot of options right now._ Their conversation was interrupted by Zashan approaching. _Ah. He looks mighty formal._

He gave Toshiaki a slight bow. “As an assisting party, will you be exercising your right to part of the loot?”

_Yikes! That’s an important question. I didn’t exactly do much, but is it bad manners to not take it?_

Fortunately, he continued. “Sorry those are necessary words from the Guild. We must offer to share.” He squirmed, clearly uncomfortable with his situation.

 _I doubt he wants to share, especially with someone not associated with the Guild. I don’t know if I feel comfortable taking stuff from him either._ “It’s alright. You don’t need to share. However, I do ask for some…” She struggled to come up with the word for discreet. “Some secret information.”

Zashan glared at her warily. _I mean I would too if someone who was offered practically free stuff tried to exchange it for information._ “I have questions I don’t want people to know I asked.”

He seemed to get her intentions and beckoned over the woman with a large axe. “Sorry. What’s your name?”

“Toshiaki, this is Shizuku.”

“Zashan, as you know, and this is Bia Xei.” The woman gave a slight bow. _Everyone is bowing. I guess I’ll bow too._ “Bia. Toshiaki.” He struggled to pronounce the foreign name. “Wishes to forgo her rights to any loot. Please proceed as normal.” 

_He purposely gave the command in front of me and used simpler words so I could understand. Are these types of contracts that serious?_ She looked over to Shizuku who had decided watching the Operators was more interesting than trying to keep up with the conversation.

 _When KiKi said this was a game I believed her. But are game people this realistic? They seem actually hurt. They look completely normal. Are games always this realistic?_ She continued to observe with rapid interest.

“Would you like to ask the questions now?” Zashan restarted the conversation once Bia was out of ear shot.

It was Toshiaki’s turn to give a wary look. _Do I trust this guy? I mean it seemed pretty serious that I gave up my portion of the loot. I doubt he would risk that. I guess the fallout if he did tell someone about us wouldn’t be too terrible. I’m just worried the wrong people start taking interest before we know of them._ “No questions from you. And don’t tell anyone.” He put a finger to his lips.

 _Where do I start?_ “Where are we?”

It was clearly not the question he was expecting. He recovered quickly. “Rosweaton.” She gave him an unimpressed look. “Nation of Rosweaton on the continent of Norvell. Southern portion of the nation. On the road to Ayloria. It’s one of the biggest cities Rosweaton has. Central Cell for the Owlbear Theater too.”

 _Let’s keep him on his toes._ “Is the Guild good work?”

“Um. Yeah? I guess. Everyone has their own reasons, but most don’t have another choice.” He coughed and glanced around. “It’s not easier or safe but it makes more money than many other jobs. It’s easy to get in, they don’t ask many questions. Gives people a second life you know?” He pounded his chest like it was a source of pride. Toshiaki cringed at his choice of words.

 _Okay. One more._ “Do we stick out?”

He laughed at this one. “Looks? No. Your speech is very strange considering Norvell’s official language is Erdpsa. Your mannerisms are different as well.” He gave a slight bow mimicking the apparent greeting that all the people Toshiaki had met seemed to use. “Most obviously though is your lack of knowledge. The Guild and it’s workings are well known. Everyone interacts with it in some way. To not know anything makes me wonder where you’ve come from.”

 _Ha. He managed to voice a question without asking it. I think I’ll fix my speech a bit before we get into the city. Mannerisms will just come with time._ She glanced at Shizuku apprehensively. _Knowledge will be a problem though._ “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” He made a fist, held it up in front of his mouth, and gave it a sharp shake forward.

Toshiaki mimicked the gesture. “Thank you.” 

Zashan smiled back. “It’s an Operative thank you. Many others use it too.” With that he returned to his camp. Toshiaki slumped back down into the wagon.

_It’s a bit too early to make a call about what to do. We should probably at least stop at the Guild since Zashan says everyone interacts with it in some way. I appreciate Zuku’s optimistic attitude about going home but I’m going to plan like it was a permanent transfer. I’m happy to go along with whatever Shizuku wants to do. Afterall, this new world has freed us from the responsibilities of the old one. It’s kind of liberating now that I think about it. Regardless of the path we head though we’ll need food and shelter, which means money._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kajiwara Shizuku: Dominator I (HP: 5/10 XP: 100/210)  
> Str -3 / Agl 1 / Vit 1 / Int 5 / EP 101^1.0 / MP 25^1.0  
> [-2 MP Regen from KiKi]  
> \- Dominate (Patrick, Toshiaki)  
> \- Hibernate/Awaken
> 
> Nakao Toshiaki: Meta-Player 0 (HP: 45/55 XP: 0/97)  
> Str 1 / Agl 4 / Vit 2 / Int 3/ EP 110^1.1 / MP 22^0.6  
> [+10% to all stats from Lifelong Companion]  
> \- Adaptive Talent  
> \- Language Proficiency


	5. Shizuku & The Sword in the Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shizuku finds a sword in a stone.

While Toshiaki worked on coming up with a plan of action for the coming days. Shizuku made a decision.  _ These are indeed people.  _ A bit later she went back on it.  _ Hm. Maybe not, they could just act like people.  _ After a while of back and forth her head started to hurt so instead of diving into the morality of dealing with people in a game that may not be a game, she decided to observe the local wildlife. She began very captivated by all the small creatures and bugs she had never seen before. A few animals bore a distinct similarity to creatures from her old world, there were even a few of the same such as her lizard, Patrick. 

She was in a constant state of awe as she hopped out of the wagon and took some time to walk around. When they first came to the new world she had wanted to look at all the new animals but Toshiaki kept pulling her away from it to explain things. And after the wolf incident things had been too busy for her to be able to focus on nature. Now as she walked away from the caravan nature could boldly come to the forefront of her mind.  _ Did nature ever have this much presence in our old world? _

The trees were the same but subtle differences gave them an otherworldly aura. Weird fruits hung from one tree and vines dangled from another’s branches.  _ This is straight out of a fantasy novel.  _ The few bugs she had seen were interesting but what she really wanted to see was the small mammals and reptiles of this world. On the caravan she had caught glimpses of a rabbit-like creature but Toshiaki had shushed her before she could ask the caravan to stop.

_ There!  _ She caught a glimpse of the rabbit-like creature she had seen before. She scrambled after it, completely unaware of the increasingly dangerous situation. Her conversation scolding Toshiaki for her risky behavior was long since forgotten in pursuit of this rabbit. Through some bushes she got a clear sight of it as it stopped in a clearing to nibble on some grass.  _ It eats grass! _

By a few definitions it could be called cute, Shizuku certainly thought so. It had a body similar to a rabbit but short rounded ears instead of long floppy ones. It’s tail was long and noodle like, draping behind the creature in a monkey-like way. She crept forward into the clearing set on touching it. Just as she thought she might be able to get close enough it scampered off.

“Oh, what’s this?” Shizuku spoke aloud referring to a sword embedded deep into a stone outcropping in the center of the clearing.  _ This is just like the Sword in the Stone! I pull this out and get magical powers and stuff!  _ As befitting of her thoughts she clambered up onto the stone and wrapped her hands around the handle. She gave the sword a big tug. Then another. She kept tugging until she had to sit down to catch her breath.  _ Why am I so weak? _

While Shizuku bemoaned her fate a voice called out to her from the void. “Are you my master?”

She rapidly looked around for the source of the voice and put her hands up in what few might call a fighting stance.

“Are you my master?” It spoke again.

“N-n-n-no?” She stumbled backwards and tripped over the sword falling off the rock.  _ Ow!  _

The voice from nowhere sighed. “No way you’re my master. Move on already, I’m busy here.”

The snark that had entered its voice made Shizuku shrink. “Oh. I-I-I’m sorry. I’ll be going. Sorry for bothering you.” She gave a short bow in a random direction and started to stumble away.

There was another sigh. “No no no. Come back. Relax.” She stopped in confusion and looked around for the source of the voice again. “The sword, idiot. Haven’t you heard of magical sentient swords? Don’t they tell tales of use in taverns and our history is spread throughout the lands?”

Shizuku hesitantly made her way up to the sword. “No… Me and my friend are new here so we haven’t heard.” She knelt in front of the sword to talk to it.

“Listen. I was left here when my last owner fell in battle. I had a dream my new owner would come find me but it has been a long time.”

“Oh, well I hope they come soon!”

Another sigh, “Why?”   
Shizuku tilted her head. _Why what?_

“It’s you, stupid. As much as I hope it isn’t I don’t want to risk it actually being you. I’ve waited for what feels like forever with no company. I’d kill for some company, even if it’s you.”

Still confused, Shizuku couldn’t come up with anything to say.  _ I feel like he’s upset at me but I’m not sure for what? _ “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?!? Oh my Gods this is stupid. Pull me out of this rock already.”

“I tried that but I can’t do it.” She bemoaned her lack of strength.  _ I should have drunk more milk. My mom always said to but I never listened. _

“What kind of owner can’t pull me out of a rock! I’m probably not even pinched in here, you just have to lift! Don’t tell me you won’t even be able to wield me.” The voice moaned in despair.

Shizuku put her hand on her chin while she tried to think of a good solution. “Oh! I have an idea!”

“Wait I have a bad feeling about this. What’s your idea?”

“I can cast Dominate on you! Then I can Hibernate you then Awaken you to get you out of the rock. Although that would mean you become tied to me forever…” She trailed off as she started to dislike her idea.  _ I don’t want to rob this person of their freewill… _

“Great idea!”

“Huh?!?”

“I’ve never been the weapon of a Summoner before! I thought it was because they don’t have the strength to wield me but apparently that is not taken into account. But since you're my owner and I’m your weapon we might as well formalize the relationship!”

“Oh. I suppose that would be alright. As long as you are okay with it.”

“Yes, definitely. I mean, I won’t be in excruciating pain for eternity of anything right?”

“Oh no. My friend says it feels totally fine! Their body feels much lighter.”

“Friend? Have you… Nevermind, I’m not going to ask. Let’s do this already!”

“Okay. Well.” She carefully approached the sword. “Here we go.”

Toshiaki let out a shout as she was thrown from the wagon. She was nearly dragged into the woods before she was able to get to her feet.  _ What’s happening? Where’s Zuku?  _ Her friend was nowhere to be seen and an invisible wall was slowly shoving her into the forest. She thought of calling out but chastised herself.  _ This could be more trouble than it’s worth. Especially if it involves…  _ Toshiaki had an idea. Pets and mount were fairly common in MMOs. There were some general rules that carried over no matter which game you played. One such rule was a maximum range the pet could stray from its owner.  _ It definitely seems like something Zuku’s class would have.  _ She groaned as she ran into the woods to find her friend.

“Zuku! Where are you?”

“Kiki? Oh thank goodness. I think I got lost.” Shizuku was worn out from pulling at the sword, casting Dominate, and from the wolf event she still hadn’t fully recovered from. Instead of walking towards where she thought the caravan was she sat down.

Toshiaki did her best to take several deep breaths. “What did you think you were doing?”

“I wanted to see the nature.” Shizuku was clearly oblivious to Toshiaki’s frustration.

“Didn’t you just tell me off for doing something dangerous?”

“Yeah I did. I don’t want you getting hurt.” She cocked her head, confused.

“Well what about you?”

“What about me?”

“What about you getting hurt? Do you want that to happen?”

“Well no I guess. It didn’t seem particularly dangerous.”

“Do you just not think at all? Zashan just fought a ton of extremely dangerous monsters that came out of the woods? Why in the world would you go running into the woods right after that?” She moved to smack Shizuku over the head but her hand met resistance. _ Huh? _

Shizuku took her friend's hand. _ Now that I think about it. I’m really tired. And my body still hurts from before. I guess the excitement covered it up for a bit. _ “Sorry. I know you’re upset. I am very tired.”

“Yes. Of course I am. You’re my friend, I don’t want you to get hurt and this world has already proved it is extremely dangerous. Don’t wander off by yourself, especially in the wilderness.” She considered who she was talking to. “Scratch that, don’t wander by yourself ever, period.”

“Oh. Well I didn’t mean to.”

“But you did.”

“I just wanted to see the weird bunny. I didn’t even realize I was alone until I was.” She frowned

“I know. But ask me next time and I’ll go with you.”

“Okay. I didn’t like being alone.”

“I knew you wouldn’t. Just… Just tried to remember to stick by me okay?”  _ That’s the best I’m probably going to get out of her. I had to keep a close eye on her in our previous world but it’s way more important here. At least I have a warning now if she strays too far away.”  _

While Toshiaki contemplated telling her friend about the range limit, Shizuku took out her newly acquired sword. “Ta-Da!”

_ What in the world? Where in the world?  _ Toshiaki sighed. “What did you do now?”

“I found a sword! Say hi!”

“You don’t look like you have the strength to wield me either.”

Toshiaki couldn’t help but jump as the sword spoke in her mind. “Great. A sentient sword.”

“You don’t have to sound so excited.”

“Oh don’t worry. I am. Zuku? What are we supposed to do with this? And put it away before your mana dries up.”

“Hey wait!” Before the sword could finish, Shizuku cast Hibernate.

“Isn’t it so cool! I found it in a rock. And it talked to me. Apparently I’m it’s owner or something. But I couldn’t get it out of the rock with my strength so I used Dominate to get it out.”

Toshiaki put her face in her hands.  _ There are so many things wrong with that sequence of events.  _ “First, let’s get out of these dangerous woods and rejoin the caravan.” The two began the trek back which luckily, Toshiaki had kept careful note of when she went after Shizuku.

On the way back, Toshiaki gathered more details about what had happened and started to chastise her friend again. “Listen. Don’t go picking up random objects. Especially when they talk to you and try to convince you to pick them up! What if it wanted to suck out your soul or something? Also, what are we supposed to do with a sword? Neither of us can use it nor have the strength to be able to consider training to use one. And you lost hit points falling off a rock?!? I’m shocked you didn’t end up dead from your little escapade… Did you at least get to see the bunny?”

Shizuku was feeling a bit down as her friend lectured her. “Yeah I did, it was really cute.”

“Well. I suppose that’s one good thing that came out of this. Maybe we can figure out something to do with this sword now. You’re out of slots for creatures though now right?”

“Oh. Yeah. I’ve got you, Patrick, and now the sword. Which I suppose needs a name.”

“Did it tell you it’s name?”

“Oh yeah! It was ‘The Silver Saber of Necrodom, Bringer of Justice, Might of Hell, and Whisperer of Death’!”

“...”

“I think I got that right.”

_ Is there no character limit for item titles?  _ “Well I’m certainly not calling it that. Give it a new name.”

“Hm. Okay. How about… Sampson.”

“Sampson?”

“Yeah!”

“I suppose it’s better than whatever it officially is. Sampson it is. Oh, and it’s also probably for the best that we don’t mention the sentient sword around others. I doubt we will receive any positive attention for it.”  _ Granted, until we understand more I think any attention at all would be negative. _

The two returned to the caravan just as Zashan’s group was beginning to pack up. Zashan noticed the two coming out of the woods but looked the other way when Toshiaki waved him off. They scrambled back into the wagon and moments later the caravan was back on it’s way to Ayloria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kajiwara Shizuku: Dominator I (HP: 3/10 XP: 100/210)  
> Str -3 / Agl 1 / Vit 1 / Int 5 / EP 101^1.0 / MP 25^1.0  
> [-2 MP Regen from KiKi]  
> \- Dominate (Patrick, Toshiaki, Sampson)  
> \- Hibernate/Awaken
> 
> Nakao Toshiaki: Meta-Player 0 (HP: 45/55 XP: 0/97)  
> Str 1 / Agl 4 / Vit 2 / Int 3/ EP 110^1.1 / MP 22^0.6  
> [+10% to all stats from Lifelong Companion]  
> \- Adaptive Talent  
> \- Language Proficiency


End file.
